Ghislaine Maxwell awaits sentencing over sex trafficking charges

The sentencing hearing has begun in New York for British former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell over charges of recruiting and trafficking young girls.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of five charges of helping late financier Jeffrey Epstein, her then boyfriend, abuse four teenage girls.

The crimes took place over 10 years, between 1994 and 2004.

Epstein, who mixed with some of the world's most famous people, killed himself in prison in 2019.

He had been awaiting his own sex trafficking trial.

Maxwell has been in custody since her arrest in July 2020, held mostly at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where she has complained of the stink of raw sewage in her cell.

The case against her has been one of the highest-profile since the emergence of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to speak out about sexual abuse.

Maxwell, dressed in prison clothes, is present at the hearing. She spoke only to confirm she had read her pre-sentence report report and had discussed it with her legal team.

One of her accusers is Sarah Ransome, who did not testify at the trial but was due to give an impact statement.

Speaking outside court alongside fellow accuser Elizabeth Stein, Ms Ransome said Maxwell should remain in prison for the rest of her life.

"Ghislaine must die in prison because I've been in Hell and back for the last seventeen years," she said.

"I was 10 years old when Liz Stein was being trafficked. I was ten. That is how long this sex trafficking ring has been going on for. And it should have just taken one survivor to come forward for us to be taken seriously. It should not have been this hard."

During the trial, four women, identified in court only by their first names or pseudonyms to protect their privacy, testified that they had been abused as minors at Epstein's homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands.

One of the women chose to use her real name, Annie Farmer, after speaking out publicly.

They recounted how Maxwell had talked them into giving Epstein massages which turned sexual, luring them with gifts and promises about how Epstein could use his money and connections to help them.

Epstein's crimes were first reported in the media in 2005 and he served prison time in Florida in 2008-09 on a state charge of procuring a minor for prostitution.

Following numerous lawsuits, he was arrested again in 2019 in a federal case in New York.